In offering retail products for sale, product tags universally are used to provide advertising and product-related information to consumers. Such information may be useful to consumers in selecting a product for purchase. Typically, a product tag includes a paper or cardboard sheet on which written advertising and/or product-related information is listed. The tag is affixed either to the packaging of the product or directly to the product itself.
Consumers often desire directly viewing and handling products before making a purchase selection, particularly with products that require hand-held operation, such as kitchenware utensils. Many of those products, however, are offered for sale in fully-sealed packages and, thus, are not available for direct viewing and handling.
Some products are offered for sale without packaging, but with attached product tags, such that the products can be viewed and handled directly by consumers. The tags typically include separate attachment mechanisms, such as strings, staples, adhesive, etc., for attaching the tags to the products. Therefore, separate attachment mechanism hardware is required in manufacturing such tags. In addition, because of the nature of most attachment mechanisms, in order to remove the tags from the products, the attachment mechanisms must be severed, preventing reattachment of the tags and products. Thus, such tags typically have only a single use.
Product tags also exist that attach directly to products without requiring separate attachment mechanisms. Tags used with kitchenware utensils, for example, often attach directly to elongate portions (i.e., handles) of utensils. Such tags may suffer from a number of drawbacks such as weak product retention and/or poor aesthetic advertising presentation. Additionally, some of the tags have complex designs rendering them relatively difficult and/or costly to manufacture.
An exemplary direct-attachment prior art product tag is the Cooks Club.RTM. tag. The Cooks Club.RTM. tag is a single-sheet, double-paneled, foldable tag in which the panels surround the flat portion of a utensil (such as a flat-handled serving spoon), when the tag is folded. The panels are attached to one another with a tongue and slot attachment mechanism, integral with the panels. While the Cooks Club.RTM. tag is fairly simple in design, its use is limited to flat-handled utensils. In addition, absent being added by tape or other separate attachment mechanism, the tag easily can be removed from a utensil by sliding it along and off from the handle.
Another direct-attachment prior art tag is the Pyrex.RTM. tag, used on spatulas and the like. The Pyrex.RTM. tag is a single-sheet, three-paneled tag. The sheet is folded about a fold line that separates first and second of the three panels. Two slots in a third panel form a channel for receiving the elongate portion of the utensil.
The Pyrex.RTM. tag suffers from a number of drawbacks. For example, an enclosed region formed by the first and second panels hides at least part of the handle of the utensil. If a consumer wishes to view the handle, then either the tag must be removed from the utensil or the first and second panels must be detached. Once detached, however, the first and second panels cannot easily be reattached because adhesive is used to attach the panels to one another. Also, the two-slot channel design is fairly complex. Further, the advertising presentation and aesthetic appearance of the tag is somewhat compromised due to the centrally-located and directly visible channel within the third panel.
It accordingly is a general object of the present invention to provide a product tag that is simple in design, and yet offers re-use, good product retention, and aesthetically pleasing advertising presentation.